Sunday 30th June

Was feeling quite melancholic this morning.
Stayed in bed and just chilled till around 10am.
Watched a new BBC drama I bought in town, ‘Small Island‘.
It was really good.
Quite gripping with a story angle not often portrayed.
Watched/listened to ‘Dance Me to the End of Love‘ for the first time in weeks.
Sat and cried my way through it.

Shoshannah was busy cooking up a storm all morning getting ready for a family lunch.
Azzan helped her get things ready.
Anson had invited a few folk around for a bbq but it was not a good day for anyone to come.

I showered and got myself moving before Seb & Phoebe arrived over.
Helped Phoebe find addresses for all her thank you letters.
Seb helped Shoshannah cut up the steak.
Then Anson, Marah & Eden arrived.

The two guys disappeared off out somewhere so we all started without them.
There was plenty of very delicious food – thanks Shoshannah xxx

After lunch I sat and knitted while Marah & Phoebe talked.
Eden slept.
Mahalia & Azzan did the dishes and Anson helped clear up lunch.
The guys went off outside again.
Phil & Sandra arrived mid arvo.
Phil chatted with the boys for a while and Sandra came down to meet Eden.
She enjoyed a long cuddle with her.
It was really lovely that they were able to pop over – so appreciated xxxx

It was all too soon time for them all to head off home.
Marah & Anson took some leftovers home for dinner.
Seb & Phoebe ended up staying a while longer.

I called up Dave as we all needed to talk to him about various things.
I got the toilet sorted, then Seb talked to him about the chimney at WB.
Then Phoebe chatted to her Mum.
It was getting late so I put on the soup and heated up left overs and they ate dinner with us.
They headed off home around 8pm.
Only 4 hours later than they had planned 😉

Mahalia & Azzan had an upset so she went off to bed early.
I cleaned up the kitchen and have come to bed with my mug of Caramel Latte.
Have been feeling really sad and tired all day.
Not tired from lack of sleep, just tired from emotional turmoil.
Been really close to tears most of the day.
It has been really nice to have all the kids here and just to chill out with them.
But it was also very hard.
It is so difficult watching your children’s grief and not being able to help them.
All a mother wants to do is to fix their child, and when they can’t be fixed it hurts so bad.

Saturday 29th June

Actually slept in till 8am today.
Might have slept longer had not been for a text waking me up.
But that’s all cool, it was a respectable hour.

Shoshannah was up bout then too.
She had a day of cleaning in the kitchen, living room, washhouse, the place looks much better now.
I stayed in bed and blogged, then Sandra phoned so we talked a while.
So it was mid morning before I got out into the spa.
Seb was working on the mussels out front by then.
I watched half a ‘Numb3rs’ episode then got myself dressed and out to the kitchen.
Cleaned up the bench and got some plums and yoghurt for breakfast, ate that while watching last of the episode.
Did the spa chemical run and got it up to sparkle again.

I decided to clean out my knitting bag so that was spread over the kitchen table for a while cuz I kept getting side tracked onto other things.
Got the washing done.
Cleaned the wood stove, had to attack it with a steel thingee it was desperately in need of a clean.
Looks much better now.
Mahalia & Azzan were in a crazy mood.
They were making Azzan’s costume for camp.
They spent yesterday glueing old cds onto his pants.
Today they made the suspenders out of rubber bands – no wonder I never can find any when I need them!!
Or when I do they are all linked together and it is quite a process to get just one

Demented children 😉

Mahalia is starting to pack her bags for her Auckland holiday.
Azzan is going to miss Halia while she is gone despite that they drive each other nuts most of the time!

Anson came round and helped the kids get a truck load of firewood.
They unloaded it and stacked it in the clean tidy woodbine that Mahalia spent yesterday making all nice.

Halia went round to visit Marah & Eden later this arvo.
I finished sorting my knitting – have also finished the back of the cardigan.

Called up Jude in Chch and had a chat with her.
She sent me the wool that I am knitting now, it was really good to hear she is so much better after her op a few months back.
She was thrilled to have found out afterwards that the cardiac specialist who did her op was non other than our friend Dougal.
That has made her feel doubly better 🙂

Spent time in the study trying to make a difference in there.
It is in such a mess – papers for Africa, all over the place.
I have been trying to file and clean but keep getting distracted and it is just going from bad to worse.
It is not like me to be in such a disorganized state, I hate it, but just haven’t got the energy to get it all sorted.
Joy phoned up so we had a long talk.
Then it was time to get some dinner thinking happening.
Decided we could eat leftover last night casserole and some of Sandra’s macaroni cheese from the freezer.
So it is very easy tonight – just heating what each of us wants and the kids are eating while watching a movie in the lounge.
I was in the kitchen earlier and all of a sudden just started crying.
Am still feeling quite tearful.
Don’t feel like eating or sharing my room with kids tonight.
Azzan has a 6th sense that seems to know when I am not feeling great.
He brought me a poem he had just written and gave me a big hug.

When a good man dies
don’t forget his good soul
even when it feels like you’re empty
and your best friend’s a black hole.
When a good man dies
everyone feels empty inside
and even when your love for him
was mega miles wide.
When I see a good man’s died
All I did was cry
So don’t forget when a good man dies.

 

Ended up in bed with my dinner, skyping with Jesika, and then watching ‘Safe Haven’ on my own.
Azzan was snuggled into his bed with a book nice and early.
Mahalia cleaned up the kitchen and Shoshannah added photos to Facebook.

Nice quiet earlyish night.

Friday 28th June

A day at home.
Calm, clear and jolly cold!
When I woke Seb was already out on the water working, taking advantage of the calm morning doing mussel work on ‘Tardis’.
He spent the day tidying up all the farms.

Azzan beat me to the spa so when I got in it was at a nice temperature.
Not too hot, which meant I was able to wallow in there and watch an episode to ‘Numb3rs’.
Glad I did take that time out though cuz I really didn’t stop much for the rest of the day.

The hot water was cold cuz the wood stove hadn’t been lit while we were away.
Because I had cleaned all the ash out it was hard to light and keep going easily so Mahalia had kept the other fire going instead.
Shoshannah got the fire going while she had her breakfast and Azzan tried to do the stack of dishes.
But he decided it was easier to wait for the fire to heat the water than to boil the jug many times, so the dishes didn’t get finished until much later.
He went and unpacked his bag and tidied his room instead.
I got all our town washing through the machine and dryer.
Shoshannah made Okonomiyaki for lunch.
Mahalia disappeared.
Discovered later that she had taken Olly for a ride.
She met up with Marah, who decided to join her & take Eden for an impromptu early-still-in-pjs-walk and they all arrived around here late morning.

It was absolutely freezing outside talking to her but she wanted to head back home to shower & feed babe etc.
But when Anson arrived in for a coffee she decided to come in and join us for coffee and food.
It was warm and cosy inside and we sat around talking.
Anson’s arm is still incredibly painful but he is pushing himself to do what he can.
He had been out chainsawing trees and undergrowth back to clear the roads.
Not the best job bit one that needed to be done.

Eden slept, then she woke and had a feed, and then she got cuddles.
And time disappeared.

The mailboat arrived around 2pm with lots of goodies in the bag.
A cool parcel from my BFF Jacqui,all the way from Western Austraila, for Eden.
Cute girlie clothes and a soft grey teddy.
So lovely – thanks so much Jac – Marah loves the wee clothes.

Then there was a box for me.
I started opening it but when I got a glimpse of the contents I shut it quick and decided to open it later when I was alone 😉
Thanks Bri & Nick for the delicious care package – I will definitely enjoy all of these delicious treats xxxxx

Anson decided he needed to go home for lunch about 3pm so he headed off on the quad bike.
He did offer to tow the buggy behind but Marah opted to walk back – bit safer methinks 😉

Sebastian came in when he finished work to pick up the new ships log books.
Great to finally have them.
When we got the ‘Tardis’ back we had discovered that the logbook had finished in September so there was no legal record by the skipper since then.
Just another nail in his coffin
We had a chat about what work he’d done over the week and what was coming up.
He’s doing good and getting things sussed.
Has lots of mentors in the industry only too happy to help which is great.

Estelle phoned while we were talking so I said I would phone back.
Then I had to get dinner on, then the phone went flat and then when I did call her back around 9:30pm she didn’t answer the phone!!
I did try Estelle – so call me!!

Azzan asked me if we were going to have a real dinner tonight so I thought it was time to raid the freezer and get some ‘real’ food underway.
It really was not a good day to be spending time digging in the freezer – so I was pretty quick and didn’t dig too deep.
Got out some pumpkin and chicken stock and started some soup.
Boiled up some plums to have for breakfast.
Thought I would make some yoghurt to have with them, only to find that a mouse had been in the pantry and had attacked the yoghurt sachets.
I was so annoyed to find the critter/s had chewed holes in about 6 packets.
Only had four packets untouched.
So have donated the contents of the showed packets to Archie – didn’t feel like sharing our food with a mouse 😦
I am hoping that the mouse/mice was the ones that Shoshannah has already caught.
But traps are set waiting just in case!!

Found sausages, corn, capsicum in freezer so made them into a casserole with some onions.
Added chili & soy sauce, brown sugar and raspberry vinegar.
Did a pot of mashed potatoes as well.
A ‘real’ meal that deliciously filled all of our tummies.
We watched ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ while eating.
So funny and also such a sad indictment of society.

Jesika & Shoshannah wanted to skpye so they connected on my laptop in my bedroom while I was finishing up out in the living room and getting the other two darlings off to bed.
Mahalia is usually last one off to bed these days – I often am in mine before she is anywhere near hers!

I wanted to go to bed so I sent Shoshannah off to bed at 10pm and then I skyped with Jesika will midnight.
Wedding talk etc takes time.
Plus hearing all about what has been happening in her life over in the big smoke of Melbourne.
Enjoyed a mug of Caramel Latte while talking.
I don’t usually drink coffee but these are rather tasty, I think the sweetness outweighs the normal bitterness of the coffee.
Thanks Bri & Nick.
Every time I have a drink I will think of you both xxxx
Wound my evening down with an episode of ‘Numb3rs’ and fell asleep at 12:45am.

Thursday 27th June

A very bleak overcast day in Nelson.
It was slightly warmer with no ice or frost but colder throughout the day cuz there was no sun.
There was some discussion with Shoshannah as to how cold it was.
My point was that she needed more layers on.
She reckoned she had enough.
But I wasn’t cold and I had an extra layer more than her so obviously she didn’t 😉

Ross & Andrea had already gone to work so Shoshannah and I packed up the car and locked the house.
We drove straight to CRT.
The girls both needed new gumboots so Shoshannah spent some time choosing them.
Gabrielle arrived to drop off Azzan.
Sounds like he had enjoyed his night with Jack.
Lots of craziness while they were trying to learn to play a new board game that Azzan had taken with him.
Finally managed to get Shoshannah to decide which gumboots to get, quickly restacked the bags in the back of the Regulus, waved bye to Gabrielle as she zoomed off to her meeting and we were on our way.

Shoshannah had a 10:15am appointment and as we were 40mins early for that she was happy for me to drop her near the hospital and she enjoyed a morning walk there to warm up and I was able to head straight into town.
I zipped up to see my lawyer and sort a few things out with him.
I am so over all the carry on and am hoping that things will be settled this coming week.
I then dropped Azzan off at the library while I headed to the port to go talk to the SGS folk and get my head around all the timeframes for the audits that both our boats have to undergo during the 4 year Maritime NZ survey cycles.

Picked up Azzan on my way back and went to meet Shoshannah at The Warehouse.
At least with her two walks she was able to warm up 😉
After she had found her hat we were on our way again.
I wanted to go meet up with Nathan.
He was at Nelson Beauty getting his skin sorted.
Both he and Shoshannah have had some trouble with dry sore red patches recently and Julie was reassessing his skin.
It seems to be a winter climatic thing cuz Julie and others are having the same problem.
Decided to go have some lunch together seeing as Nathan wasn’t working.
We sat outside in the watery sun at Morrison St Cafe.
No seats free indoors, so glad we all had our warm jackets on.
Azzan wouldn’t eat so he just watched us, he had a few mouthfuls of Shoshannah’s enormous plate of Pad Thai before we left.
She had to take half of it home as there was too much to eat in one sitting.
Nathan has moved flats and is finding the new one a tad cold so we went to look at heaters.
Checked out Noel Leeming and got some advice and prices.
Then headed back to The Warehouse.
Found some great deals going.
I bought 3 free standing heated towel rails @ $79 for each of the children to have in their rooms.
They will serve two purposes – take the chill off their rooms and also save washing cuz they can dry their own towels and not chuck them out each day.
Nathan found a 1500watt panel heater at $139 and when we paid for it it went through the checkout at $99.
The same thing at Noel Leeming as close on $300.
Nathan also found warm fluffy king size sheets at $30 a set and cost mink blankets for $30.
All in all a very satisfyingly warm shopping spree 🙂
It was funny getting everything into the vehicle as we were already quite full.
When packing it up I was only budgeting on having 2 children in the car so adding Nathan plus all the shopping really stretched the boundaries!
We crammed everything in and Nathan squeezed into the front seat with his heater crammed in on top of him.
When I asked if he could manage to do up his seat belt there was lots of loud choking response 🙂
Thankfully he only lives a couple of minutes away so we were very quickly unloading him and his things.
Left him to unpack it all and enjoy the rest of his day off.
We didn’t have anything much left to do.
I wanted to pop into Mana Bookstore and look for something special for some special someones.
Shoshannah walked up and got a lettuce from the vege shop – that was the extent of our grocery shopping this week!
While I was wandering the shelves looking for something Sunni called me.
She and Mat are home from their holiday in the Maldives.
It is so good to hear her sounding so happy and well.
She is around 6 months pregnant and after a pretty rough start is now blooming.
While talking with her, despite having circumnavigated the shelves several times and not seeing it I finally spotted exactly the right thing – just the perfect present!
So bought it, said my goodbyes to Sunni and zipped back to the kids who were waiting patiently in the car.

Drove through Burger KIng and got Azzan the new burger.
He pronounced it the best he’d had ever!
We were out of town by 3:30pm.
Had a good drive home.
Azzan was plugged into his dvd player watching ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and Shoshannah had her iPod plugged into the car speakers.
She dozed and I drove and listened to her music.
Interjecting her sleep occasionally to ask her who was singing the various songs, she had it on shuffle and I didn’t know some of them and yo do need to know these things!   😉

The sun was setting as we got to the top of McLaren’s hill just on 5pm.
It was glorious watching it sinking into the western horizon.
Only 6 minutes between the first and last photo and then it was all gone with only streaks of colour painting the night sky.

Anson was getting a barrowload of wood in when we went past so stopped to talk to him and unload some of their stuff.
Mahalia was back home with the fire blazing and dinner cooking.
It was lovely to walk into a warm clean home.
Thanks Halia – you did good xxxx

I called up Phillipa to tell her about the heaters and while talking  I managed to screw the legs onto each of the kids ones and we soon had them plugged in and going.
They warmed up really fast so hopefully they will let the distance and do the job.

I hopped into my cosy bed.
Needed to wind down so watched the last half of ‘The Tide of Life’ and did some knitting.
I quite like knitting while watching a movie on the laptop.
I can see both right in front of me.
Whereas if I am watching the big screen I have to keep looking from one to t’other and cannot concentrate on both as easily.
Got quite a bit done tonight.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 26th June

 

Another chilly morning.
Slept till 7am, so managed to get about 6 hours sleep in one stretch.
Was up in the kitchen before 8am so I could see Andrea before she left for school.
Woke Azzan at 8am.
He leapt into action.
A slightly heavier layer of ice all over the Regulus but it washed away reasonably easy with the hose.
I have been meaning to get Azzan a downie and this morning when he came out dressed for school in only 2 layers of  shirts I decided I needed to act.
I dropped him off at One Day School – he assured me the room was well heated and he would be absolutely fine – tough little nut he is!

He had been giving me a run down on fashion and how he likes to take old style garment and create a fashion look around them etc, and that I wasn’t to buy him a blue, green or red downie.
White or black would be fine thanks Mum 🙂
I headed straight into Nelson and went to Macpac and bought him a $279 down jacket for $99.
It was the smallest mens jacket they had, but the children’s sizes are really tiny and as he is growing fast it was a better buy.
And it was a black one!

I had time to fuel up the Regulus, fuel up me, get the jacket, and pick up Shoshannah’s bags before I went to counseling.
Afterwards I went to get my car key sorted.
The original one is 15 years old and very worn and bent and I had been having problems unlocking the vehicle.
The copies I had had cut were of course just copies of the bent key, so they were also not working properly.
I went to Rollos and they were able to computer generate a new key from the number on the original one.
So I now have a key, plus some extra copies of it, which actually works perfectly in all the car locks.
Brilliant – I can now unlock the passenger door – I had thought it was the locks that were the problem!!

Had time to pop into see Amanada & Julie at Nelson Beauty and book appointments for me and Jesika during the week before the wedding, plus got some samples for Nathan.
The winter climate seems to be drying out a lot of people’s skin and a more intense skin regime is required.
I zipped up to his new flat and dropped off the samples – he has a few days off work mid week.
Then I headed to Hangar 58 to have lunch with Sandy.
She hadn’t been there before so was raving ecstatic about the place.

I had the brand new $20 car key in my hand, hadn’t gotten a key ring for it yet, and when I went to put my things down on the seat it flew out of my hand and went straight down inside the back of the seat 
That caused a bit of excitement and we had to get Mike to operate on the bottom of the seat and get it out.
He then presented me with a bright blue Hangar 58 neck band to hang it on – so I won’t lose it now!
We ordered our lunch and enjoyed a lovely hour talking about wedding preparations.
Sandy is doing the girls hair and she had some great ideas about other matters too.

I had to leave just before 2:30pm so arranged to meet up again next week.
Met up with Chrissy at 2:30pm for a quick coffee and catch up at Starbucks.
Shoshannah walked down to meet us when her course was finished.
She has enjoyed the hairdressing course.
Another thought to add to her career option.

We headed off soon after 3pm, Shanni shot up to Leeanne and picked up my dress, and then we drove straight to Richmond.
I left her with Andrea to have her piano lesson and I headed back into town to go suss out some tiles.
Gabrielle picked Azzan up from school and then went off to do stuff so they arrived to pick up his bags just as I was about to leave.
Gave him his new downie, he was pretty rapt with it, and it fitted well with a bit of growth room but not too excessive.
He and Jack were looking forward to an evening together.
It is lovely for him to have the extra stimulation of his friends company when in town – he really thrives on it.

After sussing out the Tile Direct place in Quarantine Road I discovered another small tile shop in Haven Road so headed back there.
Finally a lady to serve me.
She was so helpful and had a really good eye.
So I now have some samples to think over.

It was after 5pm so it was a tad slow heading back out to Richmond, but I took the quicker route at that time of night through Stoke so I could call in to show Phillipa the tiles and get her opinion.
She was busy on the phone sorting out some electrical problems.
Had a quick cuppa and talked with her in between her calls and being on hold!
Then I had to race out the door so I could pick Shoshannah up from her guitar lesson at 6pm.
Andrea had walked down with her and then gone on to the supermarket.
As it was dark I didn’t want Shoshannah walking the streets alone.
Got there a few minutes before she finished so good timing.
Back to the house and relaxed while dinner was cooking.

Ross sorted out my Apple Care plan for my laptop which Apple had stuffed up.
That took quite a while and  unfortunately interrupted his dinner time with us.
Thanks for dinner Andrea – it was was delicious.
And thanks for sorting out yet another of my problems Ross – very much appreciated  😉

I did some knitting after dinner while introducing Nigel Latta to Andrea by watching some YouTube videos of him.
I am really glad I bought the extra skein of colored wool yesterday to add in with the white.
It is making the wee cardigan look so much more interesting.

 

 

Tuesday 25th June

No sleeping in for me today.
I was up and ready with time to sit and chat with Andrea before she left at 8am.
Then before 9am I was heading down the road and meet up with Azzan.
Chrissy brought him in and we met up at McMillan’s Pottery as they were opening the doors at 9am.
Transferred the boy and his bag and gave Chrissy a thankyou hug and then went to do business with Hugh.
Got what I wanted and then we were steaming off down the road towards the big smoke.
Our first port of call was Monaco Village so Sandy could crop some of Azzan’s locks.
Of course there was the great debate as to what was wanted.
I’m sitting there saying ‘just cut it all off’, but no, they had to have a serious discussion as to the style etc.
Good grief!
Isn’t this kid only 10?
What a fashion plate!

 

Soon the decision was made and it was off with the locks and the floor was quickly showered in pinkness.

It’s a serious business this 😉

Payment in hugs 🙂

No wonder Sandy loves this client xxx

 

I had an appointment at 11am which I did not want to be late for so we headed into town.
I dropped my lad off at the library and headed to see Scott for some massage therapy on my shoulder, hip & knee.
He gave me a really good working over.
I felt heaps better after an hour there.

Zipped down to pick up Azzan and then we went out to meet up with Adrienne and Poppy for lunch at Crusoe’s.
That was fun.
We hadn’t seen each other in 4 months so lots to catch up on.
It was very pleasant sitting outside in the sun.
Quite a chilly nip in the air so we all were glad of our jackets, but after the long wet spell we were thirsty for our Vit D intake.
Adrienne took this pic of the crazy kids just before we left.

I had a few things I needed to do so we zipped around getting them all done.
Met up with Nathan and had a chat with him and Mike at the Hangar.
Whizzed over to the Nissan parts place next door to see if they could get me another key for the Regulus, but no, that wasn’t on their supplies list.
Zipped up to see Leeanne and try on my dress, whizzed into Creations to look for a large button.
Bought one that would do okay and then as I was about to leave spotted some more at the end of the counter which were just what I had been wanting so did a quick change and paid the extra.
$7.30 for a jolly button made out of coconut shell – crazeee!
Someone’s making a packet and I am darned sure it is not the ones who harvest the coconuts!

Then back to AA to see why Nathan’s card wasn’t showing up when he last used it only to find it was all ok, the lady on the phone he spoke to must’ve not had her glass on or something

Then we whipped through Countdown to get some lunch food for Azzan before calling into Starbucks for a frappaccino to sustain me as we headed to Richmond.
I wanted to get out of the city well before 5pm, and I think we were well and truly up Rutherford Street by 4:45pm.
Wanted to go to the tile shop but knew if I did then we would definitely get caught in the traffic.
So I moved that job into tomorrows chore list.
Got Azzan back in time for a piano lesson which Andrea said went really really well.
She has found a new book which she thought he might prefer and apparently he loves it.
So lets hope this will activate a desire to practice more 😉

While they were busy I went off to visit Sasha.
Had a hot drink with her as we huddled over their heater.
Their house is in a state of undress & coolness while they are getting the fireplace all ready to install the new fire, and then do the painting of the living room walls.
David arrived home late – was held up on motorway by an accident.

I arrived back just in time for dinner.
Azzan had been wanting to watch a documentary called ‘Bully‘ so we had hired it overnight.
He had begun watching it with Andrea.
Really sad stuff.

Had a cosy evening together.
Azzan helped Andrea get some of her teaching manipulatives organized for school tomorrow.

Finally managed to get Azzan off to bed sometime after 9pm with a great deal of forceful encouragement!

 

Shoshannah posted this pic on her FB wall recently and I thought the words really contained the essence of how life is for us at the moment.

 

 

Monday 24th June

It was pure luxury not to have to bolt out of bed before 7am and leave the house by 8am.
I had no children here and no appointments I had to be at till midday.
I decided at 9am I had better go have my shower though so the day didn’t completely turn to custard due to my slothfulness.

I talked with Ross for a wee while and then headed off soon after 10:30am.
Went straight to MacMillans pottery and had a really lovely chat with Tim’s cousin Hugh.
He was very helpful.
Found a selection of what I wanted and left to think it over.
Then just had time to zip into Richmond and change Shoshannah’s new tan boots at No1 Shoe Warehouse for the black ones on hold there.
Then it was onto the motorway and into the city centre.
Had time to post mail and get myself a frappaccino before going to my midday appointment with my insurance advisor.
That took just over an hour.
Was good to get some stuff rolling as I hadn’t reviewed my policies since Tim died.
Circumstances are quite different now so need to get them sorted.

I then had time to race down and see Leeanne and try on a dress she is making for me.
Then at 2pm I met up with Victoria at Hangar 58.
I was really hungry so had lunch while we caught up.
It has been ages since we have had time to socialize.
Loads going on with her family so great to hear all their news and plans.
Shoshannah breezed through after her course was finished for the day.
She picked up her new boots – they look great on her feet – she is happy.
She had really enjoyed her first day at the hairdressing course.
She went off into town to shop on her way back to Katherine’s.
Nathan arrived – he was starting work a bit later but came in early to see me.
Victoria had to head off so I stayed and talked with Nathan for a while.

Then as the afternoon was disappearing quickly and I didn’t want to get caught in the post 5pm traffic I also zipped off to do the last minute things.

I stopped at the United Videos to pick up a movie.
When I got back to the Regulus the key wouldn’t open the door.
I was beginning to wonder what to do.
I tried opening the back glass, it opened and I was standing there holding it up contemplating if I should try and shinny myself in through the back window and over the seats to open the door from the inside when a lady pulled up with a young lad.
So I asked if I could borrow him.
He quickly squirmed in and opened the door for me.
What a relief!
When I got back to Richmond Ross took a look and found my keys which are copies of the original are all a tad short cuz they have been copied from the worn old one.
So if I wiggle it a certain way the locks will all open.
I think I will pay a visit to the Nissan centre and see if I can get a new key – it might be easier and less embarressing.

Had soup and a delicious stirfry dinner with Ross & Andrea, and some of Mahalia’s pumpkin pie which went down a treat with ice cream and yoghurt,  and then they went out to an evening at their church.
I came downstairs and watched a movie ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘.
It had been recommended by a friend but it took me a while to get into it.
It had a really good finale though.
I ended up watching the movie on a small screen in one corner, reading my knitting pattern from the bottom of my screen, I started knitting a wee cardigan tonight, and then chatting with Jesika on FB chat.
How’s that for multi tasking??

Now it is time hit my pillow.
Have to be a bit more on the ball tomorrow.
No sleep in for me.

 

Just an extra aside that I want to record here so I don’t forget.

I was speaking on the phone tonight with a guy from Auckland who we have known professionally for well over 10 years.
I had phoned him a month or so back to discuss some business and because he is quite a talker it had taken me quite a while to interject into the conversation and tell him that Tim had died.
At the time he went incredibly quiet.
I thought it unusual because he is never quiet, but also later thought it a tad amusing to actually hear him speechless, but then I realized he was shocked.
However, when speaking to him tonight after a while he said he had to tell me something.

When I had phoned him he said he thought Tim & I were on two lines because  that he could hear Tim talking in the background.
He thought he must’ve had his hand over the receiver and was talking to one of the kids.
And as he was just about to say ‘G’day Tim’ he heard Tim say ‘tell her thank you from me’.
And in that split second I told him that Tim had been killed.
So he was doubly shocked – hence his speechlessness.
So last night he passed on the message, because in retrospect, he felt Tim was saying to me – ‘Thank you’.

 

 

 

Sunday 23rd June

A distinctively cold clear morning.
Snow on the hills.

I got the fire revved up and talked to Shoshannah for a few minutes while she was getting her ‘dinner’ ready.
I am glad she has happily accepted her new way of eating, but I am not sure I could sit and eat salad at 7am!

I cleaned out the woodstove.
It was full of ash, Mahalia has been shoveling it out but she hadn’t realised the front panel should open to make the clean out easier.
I ratted around the fire and eventually found the tool needed to turn the bolt to open the ash vent, only to find it was rusted up and wouldn’t work.
I levered the top panel off instead and poked around with the poker and loosened the ash and then shoveled what I could out the front.
It was a bit tedious and rather dirty work.
It is times like this that I feel so damned helpless.
Tim always did all this sort of work, I have observed over the years so have an idea of what to do but I don’t have the brute strength to undo the stupid bolt.
I don’t even know where to find a tool to use instead of the rusty one or how to deal to the rust
I am doing what I can, but it isn’t enough.
The wetback is still waiting to be fixed, and the fire is getting all rusty due to the water.
Anyway, I did what I could and left it ready for Mahalia to clean and light later.

I grabbed a towel and my laptop and padded gingerly along the wet cold deck to the spa.
Set the laptop up on the bbq and hopped in.
It was deliciously warm – Azzan hadn’t been near it so it wasn’t boiling!!
Lay back and watched the first part of another Catherine Cookson movie called ‘The Tide of Life‘.
I really enjoyed reading her books years ago and am thoroughly enjoying these movies.

Once I was out and dressed I finished packing.
Couldn’t get my head around what I would need in town so packed a heap more than I probably should have, but have no problem with room so easier to just chuck in extras.

Azzan was up and at it – bouncing through his chores, keen to help so we could leave.
He was energised by the fact we were going to town.
It is a good time to milk his energy and enthusiasm so I added a few jobs to keep him busy 😉
He actually took it upon himself to carry all the bags to the vehicle and load them in without being asked – progress 🙂
Shoshannah cleaned up the kitchen.
I tidied up my sewing to finish on my return.

Left Mahalia lists, gave her lots of hugs and we were out the door around 11am.
Seb was coming to pick her up as she is staying with him & Phoebe for  the week and just coming home to do chores through the day.

I stopped in to drop a pumpkin pie off to Marah.
Kept my distance from her and Eden cuz I am still full of flu bugs.

We left the top of the hill around midday.
It was glorious up there.

It was a quiet first part of the trip.
Azzan was in the backseat wired into his iPod.
Shanni and I just talked intermittently.
I was feeling really yuck and a bit tearful.
About half an hour into the trip Shoshannah suggested we could have some music which I agreed to as long as it wasn’t too loud and raucous.
So she plugged her iPod into the car speakers.
I was amused cuz the first song that played was ‘If I die young‘ by Band Perry.
It was so in keeping with my mood

If I die young,
bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Send me away with the words of a love song

We arrived in town mid a afternoon on a Sunday.
I drove up the main street and was like, ‘what the heck?’
No parks. What’s going on here.
This is Sunday why are so many people on town?
Maybe it was a good day for the movies, or was it Farmers sale, or was it the first rain free day???
Whatever?
I had to drive round to Buxton to get a park.
Sent Shoshannah off to suss out shoes while Azzan and I stopped off at Starbucks for a drink for me and food for him.

Then we went to find Shoshannah, she was not over at No1 Shoe Warehouse.
They had a 3 for 2 sale on, suited be find today!
Azzan need some winter shoes so went looking with him and he very quickly found exactly what he wanted.
Neon green & white boots with laces that ‘you don’t do up Mum, that’s not how you wear these!’
Okay, fine, but if you trip up and break your neck don’t come running to me my boy who is growing up far to fast and knows exactly what is totes Mum!

Shoshannah found a few pairs, knew exactly what she was looking for and finally found them.
But in tan.
Guy called up Richmond and got a pair in black held for her so I will change them int he morning for her.
I bought a pair of slipper boots for me.
So we were all happy and I was very happy cuz my slippers were free 🙂

Then we dropped Shoshannah off at Katherine’s.
And headed off towards Richmond to meet Chrissy , Russell & Asher.
Azzan called them up and arranged to meet at Phillipa & Pat’s.
Got there to find them in their new abode – and it was very Piccadilly Circus.
Kids of all ages and stages, coming and going.
Parents coming to collect said kids etc etc.

We all sat around and socialised over sups of tea and carrot cake.
Then Azzan headed off to night church with Asher and family.
I stayed a bit longer.
Mandy, Mat & Macy and Jessica left and Phillipa started throwing food together for a late dinner.
We had lots to talk about.
I was really emotional and the tears just wouldn’t stay in check.
I had been really struggling to hold it all together while the crowds were milling.
Just not a good day really, feeling very down.
It’s hard enough dealing with my own grief but sometimes the weight of my children’s grief is just way too much to bear.
It was good to just have some one on one time with Phillipa and Pat.
We’ve been mates for so long now there isn;t much we can’t talk about.
The kids took their dinners into the movie room so we had plenty of time to just talk things through.
I finally had to leave as the evening was getting late and very cold outside.
Got to Andrea & Ross’s around 10pm.
Chatted with them for a wee while and then Andrea helped me unload my bags and I crashed out downstairs in my cave.

Saturday 22nd June

Woke to rain again today.
We are so sodden here now.
Sitting in the spa which one darling son had yet again turned up to 40.5’C was lovely on such a cold grey wet morning.
Azzan & I have this spa war – he turns it up and I turn it down, and threaten blue murder, but somehow it goes back up again!

I was delighted to get an email from Les this morning with this lovely photo that he had taken a few years back, of Tim on his tractor.

Azzan spent time tidying his room and packing his bag for town.
He has arranged to stay with two of his best mates during our time in town so he is happy.

Shoshannah is doing a hairdressing course this week.
She has organised to stay overnight with Katherine so she is happy too.
She can just walk the 15mins from there down to the NMIT.

Mahalia has opted out of coming to town this week, so she is going to stay over with Phoebe & Seb.
She will pop home during the days to feed the animals and do some chores.

I am happy cuz I wont have to get up too early on Monday morning because I will be childless and don’t have to be in the city too early!

Anson lost one of his new bitches this morning.
He looked for it everywhere but she hasn’t turned up yet.
He is very unimpressed.
He popped around a couple of times today.

I made myself a lunch dish from Azzan’s leftover potatoes.
There were so many that I made another dish up and sent it round for Anson & Marah’s dinner.

Seb & Phoebe had a quick day trip out to Nelson today.
There was snow down very low on the hills.

We still had a large pile of cut pumpkin in the fridge so I asked Mahalia if she would cook it and process it for freezing.

She wanted to make pumpkin pie, not going to argue with that, am rather partial to pumpkin pie 🙂

So she cooked up all the pumpkin.
An under instruction from me and the recipe book she got organised to make 3 pies.
She loves them to be nice and tasty so her measurements of the spices were very generous, but the one we ate for dessert sure tasted good.

 

The rest of the pumpkin was processed and frozen already for soup.

 

She also made a salad for dinner and Azzan did baked potatoes.

I have been sewing all day.
Am busy making a quilt.
Haven’t done anything like that for about 14 years.
It is quite a simple one but fun.
Didn’t quite get it finished so it will have to wait until I get back home again.

The kids and I watched an original “Miss Marple’ murder mystery while we had dinner.
It was in black & white.
It was fun to see the original character – quite different to the new one, but very eccentric and colorful.

Watched a Catherine Cookson movie today and tonight.
Called ‘The Cinder Path’.
Quite poignant, her books are always a tad depressing and the movie is too but ended happily so all is good 🙂
I used to read all her books when I was much younger so it was good to see a televised version.

 

 

Friday 21st June

The storm hit the lower North Island with a horrendous ferocity last night.
Causing chaos and major damage.
Check out the photos via the link on the left of the page – it was pretty savage!
Despite all of this happening just a few miles to the east of us we escaped it.
We had a bit of wind but nothing compared with this.

And with the polar blast traveling up from the south the east coast is getting a major hammering too.
But this is all the snow that greeted us this morning.
Just a whisper across the ridge to the right and a little on the tops of Okaha & Titirangi.
It was all gone by the afternoon.

I woke a couple of times in the night.
It is so frustrating not being able to sleep through.
I even tried listening to the early morning radio – Tim & I would always listen to it for a while before going to sleep and then for a while before getting up in the morning.
But now I am just finding it so irritating that I can’t stand having it on.
I keep tossing about whilst trying to get back to sleep and then waking up with a headache.
My head is still full with a cold.
My eyes are the worst, really sore and runny and gunky but not infected.
I decided I needed to try and make an effort this morning so had a nice long hot shower.
That made me feel somewhat better.
Along with hot lemon & honey and elderberry drinks throughout the day.

It was a colder this morning so the fires were cranked up.
Over the past days we have been able to have the fires going and keep the hall door open as they were emitting enough heat to allow the rest of the house to warm up too.
However today we needed to keep the door closed most of the time just to keep the living area warm enough.

I played Monopoly Deal with Mahalia & Azzan while we had breakfast.
I can’t think straight but the kids are enjoying having me play along with them.

Shoshannah went round and fed Anson’s dogs.
We could here barking from here and she found that two of them had gotten out so were stirring up the other dogs.

I wanted to get the curtains finished so got stuck into Azzan’s.
He has chosen this very slinky satin fabric which an outer space galaxy sorta look to it.
I didn’t get too precious about it as it was really hard to work with.
I just hemmed where I needed to.
Then I stitched the fabric to the top of his old curtains which gave the fabric some strong backing and warmth.

Mahalia had to phone Cat to find out where the curtain hooks were as I knew they were in the workshop somewhere but Halia was having a bit of a ‘boy look’ and couldn’t locate them.
After a long sisterly conversation Mahalia went up and found them and was able to go hang her own curtains.
She has two horse covered fabrics.
She chose to have the dark print facing into her room.
If you were unaware of the fact before now – Mahalia loves horses!

And the pink facing out.
So if you wander along our back path it will be very easy to see which is her room now 😉

Mahalia helped me to hang up Azzan’s curtains.
I had joined the ranch slider curtains together so there is no gap in the middle anymore.
Two reasons – hopefully it will stop the curtain from sliding off the rail to the right like it has done in the past!
And it will be a lot warmer not having the gap in the middle.
I had enough fabric left over to cover four cushions for him.
He was absolutely delighted.
So now all that is left to do is to locate enough carpet to cover his floor and his room will be much cozier.
It is the coldest room in the house.

Seb & Phoebe came over after lunch.
Azzan had been waiting all day to go to work with Seb, but he still wasn’t ready when the time came.
Mahalia helped him find some gumboots and he was away.
It is great to see him wanting to go help Seb and lovely that Sebastian is happy to take him out and teach him.
He & Mahalia have been so wired lately and at each other that I am incredibly grateful to Seb for taking Azzan out.
He needs extra stimulation that I haven’t got the energy to give him at the moment.
Phoebe came and hung out with us.
She spent the arvo going through all their holiday photos.
I had downloaded them onto my laptop so they had a back up of them all.

Mahalia made a chicken casserole for dinner.
She also diced up some swede and carrots and got them cooking on top of the wood fire.
It was heading towards dark so Seb came back and got Phoebe and they went off home.
I gave Mahalia directions on what to do with the casserole, thickening it etc.
After Azzan had his bath he did a pot of potatoes for dinner.
He hasn’t quite got used to the idea that we are only cooking for 4 small appetites now, he did enough spuds to last several meals!
We watched a Miss Marple dvd while we ate dinner.
Shoshannah went off to bed early.
Once we were finished I ushered the two children towards their beds while I phoned Ross & Lenore.
It was good to catch up with them while they are way down south enjoying a snowy holiday.
I banked up the fires, and took myself off to bed and watched an episode of ‘Numb3rs‘ before falling asleep, actually I think I may have slept through some of it!!